ArriveCan contractor found in contempt of Parliament, ordered to appear before the House

MPs agreed to a motion Monday that found GC Strategies partner Kristian Firth in contempt of Parliament for refusing to answer certain questions during a House government operations committee appearance last month.

GC Strategies was the main contractor for the controversial ArriveCan app. In addition to being found in contempt, Firth is also being ordered to appear "before the bar" of the House of Commons to receive a public rebuke from the Speaker.

The motion, adopted by unanimous consent after nearly a full day of debate, orders Firth to appear after question period on Wednesday, April 17.

An auditor general report found that the soaring cost of the project — estimated at roughly $60 million — was in part due to the government's over-reliance on outside contractors like GC Strategies.

That same report found that GC Strategies was involved in developing requirements that were later used for an ArriveCan contract. That contract — valued at $25 million — was later awarded to GC Strategies, the report says.

A separate report by Canada's procurement ombudsman found that the criteria used in awarding the $25 million contract were "overly restrictive" and "heavily favoured" GC Strategies.

During his committee appearance, MPs repeatedly asked Firth which government officials he worked with to develop the criteria for that contract. Firth avoided those questions, citing an ongoing RCMP investigation into ArriveCan, even though he said he hadn't been contacted by the police force.

Public admonishment before the House is a very rare measure that has only been used five times since the early 1900s. It's referred to as being "brought before the bar" in reference to a brass rail meant to bar strangers from entering the chamber.

Former MPs Ian Waddell and Keith Martin were admonished by the Speaker in 1991 and 2002 respectively.

Firth will be the third private citizen to be admonished since 1913. The most recent case was in 2021, when Iain Stewart, the then-president of the Public Health Agency of Canada, appeared before the House after the agency failed to turn over documents to a parliamentary committee relating to the firing of two scientists from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.

Beyond the reprimand, MPs are also allocating time to ask Firth questions when he appears before the House. Each recognized party will have three rounds of questions asked and answered through the Speaker.

It's been over a century since anyone has been ordered to appear before the bar to answer questions in front of the House.

In February 1913, R.C. Miller was brought before the House to answer questions related to bribery allegations in relation to government contracts. Miller previously had refused to answer questions before the House public accounts committee and did so again when he appeared before the bar. In response, MPs ordered that Miller be imprisoned.

It's unclear what consequences Firth could face should he decline to answer questions before the House. Monday's motion suggests that the government operations committee will "consider" Firth's testimony and " if necessary, recommend further action."